Technetium partitioning from caustic nuclear waste streams
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- and others
Technetium-99 is a major fission product resulting from the fission of plutonium or uranium. An estimated 2000 Kg of Tc is being stored in the Hanford waste tanks. As TcO{sub 4}-, technetium is a very mobile species in the environment. This characteristic, along with its long half-life, 213,000 years, causes technetium to be a major contributor to the long-term risk associated with storage of low level waste (LLW) forms. One option for mitigating this hazard is to separate Tc from LLW streams and vitrify it with high level waste (HLW) components. Anion exchange is the baseline technology for technetium separation. Technetium partitioning is successfully accomplished by Reillex{trademark}-HPQ. Distribution coefficients have been obtained for pertechnetate as a function of time, temperature, and concentration from Hanford simulant waste. Studies were done in both batch and column mode. Technetium can be quickly and efficiently eluted from the resin using a new eluent solution which allows regeneration of the column and minimizes secondary waste. Technetium recovery is >99%.
- OSTI ID:
- 126575
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950402--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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